The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1887-12-29
What the Children Have Done.

What the Children Have Done.
It was a good man, if not a very
wise one, who discovered additional
evidence Of o. benifcent Providence
in the fact that great rivers were
made to run past large cities. In
somewhat similar way it is matter
for eongratulation that the LIST of
January follows the 25th of Deem
Der; that the two holidays are only
a week apart; that the observance
of the first naturally blends with the
observance of the last-thereby Civ
ing US eight days of holiday happi-
ness of two. This is an immense ad-
vantage among a people who do not
have half enough of holidays; who
accept the spirit, if not the letter, OF
the sailors's improvement on the
fourth commandment of the deca-
lbgue:
six DAYS shalt thou labor,
And do all thou art able;
And on the seventh, holystone the deck,
And scrape the cable
Italians have so many "high days
and holydays" that they can scarcely
find time to do any work; Americans
have so few that they have too little
time to play. Perhaps the two ua-
tions may, sooner or later, hit the
proper medium; but meanwhile let
us be duly thankful for the gentle
compulsion of which our brief holi-
day season is the fruit-a short va
cation in the hard school of toll and
MOL, an interregnum in the mon
archy of what somebody calls "the
demnition grind" There is too much
tread-mill among US for the good of
body or soul and when immemerial
custom forces the old machine to
shut down for awhile, or at least to
run more slowly, it is blessing of
no inconsiderable dimensions.
For this blessing we are mainly, if
not entirely, indebted to the children.
Were it not for the children and the
remnants of childhood lingering in
ourselves, it is doubtful whether
Christmas and New Years would be
exceptions to the general rule; wheth-
er the chain of golden days that
binds them together would not long
since have been broken, or, at any
rate, so weakened as to lose its re-
euperate and rejuenating effects, 1t
is the children who have risen up in
the might and majesty of childish
despotism and decreed this rosy
truce in the battle of life-this sus-
pension of hostilities in the weary
campaign of bread-winning and self
serving. 1t is the boys and the girls
all those out of the cradle and not
yet into pantaloons and long dresses
who have laid down the law to the
; old folks, resolved that for a week
teachers shall be sent home; lessons
dropped, and Santa Claus and Momus
reign lords of the ascendant. It is
the juvenile worshippers at the do
nestle shrine who have ordained that
from Christmas eve until New Years
night the household gods shall be
crowned with evergreen and holly
that mutual gifts shall deck the
household altar; that no stocking Of
stomach shall be turned empty away
that parental jurisdiction shall b.
: indefinitely relaxed, and parents be
J come young again for their own sake
B as well as for the sake of those who
are not yet old. If every church and
State in Christendom had proclaimed
and established the holiday season
providing heavy temporal and spirit
ual penalties for deliberate and need
, less disobedience, it would not stant
half so, securely as it does to-day
when it's stoutest champion is thu
| IL -